Responding to these “tough times”, Tuffy, A Real American Quarter Horse, LLC opens new retail business designed to educate, inspire, and enable others to succeed.
Tuffy, a local horse that has been working for the last six years to generate a new source of charitable dollars to support local education initiatives and inspire kids to read is stepping up the pace locally among the growing small business sector of social entrepreneurs.
Tuffy, dba as “Milton Antiques and Boutique Farm Products” at the corner of Berryhill Street and Stewart Street in Milton across from the Santa Rosa Chamber of Commerce in the long favored Rivenbark House has opened a local retail store committed to educating locals about the Santa Rosa county’s agriculture industry which annually produces 75 million in total agriculture outputs, 6.9 million of which is livestock, cattle, horses, goats, and chickens inspiring more locals to rethink the time tested values and possibilities of boutique or small farm life in this uncertain economy.
“Nationally, we see a resurgence of farming and ranching on small parcels of land; within Florida, the increase of small farms last year was 27%, the highest rate of increase in the nation. With so much of Santa Rosa county covered by critical flight patterns of military aircraft; land use planning providing for small farms underneath those areas will provide long term viability for both the military and the small farming enthusiast.” said owner, Kyle Holley. “We have already seen folks moving into our area from south Florida, Alabama, Maine, Tennessee, and Nevada as a result of the affordability of small farms in Santa Rosa County.”
Milton Antiques and Boutique Farm Products will specialize in primitive farm antiques and new boutique items made locally by beekeepers and some of the new dairy goat owners that have increased the goat herd in the County.
“These people are well educated, accomplished business people who value a traditional lifestyle in an area like ours with solid conservative values and respect for hard work.”
Consistent with Tuffy’s commitment to social entrepreneurism, Milton Antiques and Boutique Farm Products will be providing a safe shopping environment for local seniors who cannot risk having strangers come to their homes to buy some of their furnishings as they continue to downsize their homes. Many of the local families have a need to place items in a high traffic area as they liquidate their estates early, also as a result of these tough times. It just made sense that Tuffy would offer to help with estate liquidations while protecting the privacy of local families and at the same time help to build on the long history of Milton founded in 1844.” Said co-owner Leslie Kaufmann. “The idea really came to us as part of Tuffy’s ongoing commitment to beautification, the location had become an eyesore for the 14,000 passersby each day, that can be depressing and we just do not need anything else negative affecting people right now.
“So we decided to clean it up and provide some specialized services from the location, we will operate like a welcome center to Milton and as a gateway to Santa Rosa County, we will offer an inventory of small farms scattered throughout the County, beautiful antiques, new farm products made locally and highlight local craftsmen and their skills.”
Proceeds form the store will continue to fund Tuffy’s literacy campaign which is now receiving an increased number of calls from other states, mostly to the west of us consistent with our tourism drive market. In order to fund further travel Tuffy, LLC will have to earn the money to travel.
Our resources are committed to local investment in community, in order for us to invest in other communities we will have to develop a new resource and we think this store, Milton Antiques and Boutique Farm Products, can do that for us.
We are looking forward to traveling outside the area to help others learn about our County and its love for agricultural lifestyle values and amenities.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Tuffy opens new retail store in Milton